Don Smith of Bend served on the Bend Parks and Rec Board for 16 years. He recently wrote a "Letter to the Editor" offering his solution.

"The dam is not our problem. The dam is a problem of the owner, which we are not. Taking out the dam will cost about 11 million dollars. I'm sure the owner would love the city and the Parks and Rec Department to participate and let taxpayers help pay for that and any possible litigation, when people upstream and downstream are irritated at the result."

Smith believes the city should just consider dredging or doing nothing. He doesn't think the future of the dam should be part of the discussion.

He recommends we do the same amount of dredging we did in 1984. He says that amount served us for thirty years.

City and Parks and Rec Department leaders hope to identify a preferred strategy this fall.